Sunday marked the final day of combined driving at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy. With reigning WEG gold medalist Boyd Exell of Australia, world No. 1 ranked driver Chester Weber of the U.S., and two veteran members of the formidable Dutch team making up the top four on the leaderboard, the day was shaping up for a close finish.
Not one of those top-four drivers had a bad day today. There wasn’t a single fault among them in today’s cones phase. That meant Exell kept his gold, Weber remained in silver-medal position, and Theo Timmerman of the Netherlands won the bronze.
The Netherlands defended its 2010 WEG team gold this year, followed by the team from Germany, who had dominated the marathon phase. Hungary took the bronze. The American team, lead by Weber with two relative newcomers to the four-in-hand horse division in Misdee Wrigley Miller and Allison Stroud, came in a respectable–but still heartbreaking–fourth place, just off the podium.
WEG Combined Driving Medal Standings | |
| Individual | Team |
 Boyd Exell (AUS) | Netherlands |
 Chester Weber (USA) | Germany |
 Theo Timmerman (NED) | Hungary |
See more 2014 WEG Combined Driving coverage:
Combined Driving Begins at WEG
Chester Weber Leads after Dressage Phase
Boyd Exell Moves into Top Spot
Catch up on all the World Equestrian Games news at horseillustrated.com/Normandy2014.
Get competition schedules, results and more at Normandy2014.com.
That was mesmerizing to watch. I loved how the horses broke into a canter at the end. It was like, “Phew! We did it! And we can run now! Yay!”